Moscow benefit auction to aid local family

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Hunting for something different to do with the family? Want to check out a new area and, perhaps, return with something of real value to you and to others?

We suggest you participate in the benefit Chinese auction for the family of John and Karen Hunnewell from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19, at the Moscow Elementary School on Route 202 in Moscow.

For more than a year now, Moscow native John Hunnewell, a well-known local woodsman and the father of two small children, has been receiving treatment for a brain tumor.

Friends of the family have planned quite an event to try to help the family during this difficult financial time.

We spoke with one of the benefit organizers, Sandra Chadbourne of Moscow, who told us about the auction and how it works.

“In a Chinese auction, we put containers in front of each item, with the price of the item.

“People purchase tickets at a variety of prices, view the items, and then put a ticket in the container in front of the item they want to take a chance on.”

The auction preview and ticket sales run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with the auction drawings from 1 to 4 p.m.

You’ll also be able to enjoy refreshments from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., purchase delicious breads, cakes and pies made by local volunteer cooks, and participate in a 50-50 raffle.

Now, here’s what should interest folks who don’t necessarily reside in the immediate Moscow area but who might enjoy a scenic Sunday drive around Wyman Lake.

Among the more than 50 items you have a chance to win is a bear hunt that, including food and lodging, has a $750 value; a similar deer hunt package with a value of $500; and a kayak and paddles worth $300.

At the auction, you also will be able to take a chance on a children’s bicycle; snowmobile jackets, bookshelves and weekend getaways at cabins in the Greater Moscow-Wyman Lake area.

“We really do have some wonderful auction items,” Chadbourne said. “We have worked hard on this. Now all we have to do is get people in here.

“They won’t have any trouble finding the place. You just come up Route 202 and when you see Moscow Elementary, you are there.”

The area is one we visited many years ago and it is worth the trip.

For the Hunnewells and all those friends and neighbors who care so much for them, it will be more than worth it if you take the time to go there Sunday.

You will be giving much more than you will get out of this excursion, because you will be helping a fellow Mainer during a difficult time in his life.

If you would like more information about this benefit, or how you can help the Hunnewell family, call Sandra Chadbourne at 672-3771 or write her at 1274 Canada Road, Moscow 04920.

Efforts by people in the Amity area to preserve the Reed Schoolhouse, the last remaining one-room schoolhouse in North Amity, continue.

Two raffles, for example, feature items that might make nice holiday gifts.

A bike raffle features an 18-speed mountain bike. Tickets for this raffle are $1 each or six for $5.

Nine area businesses have donated dinner and gift certificates for the Dinner Out Bonanza Raffle. Tickets are 50 cents each or three for $1.

Tickets for both raffles can be purchased at the Shiretown Bakery in Houlton and T&S Market in Hodgdon. York’s Bookstore in Houlton is selling tickets for the Dinner Out Bonanza raffle only.

The drawing for the Dinner Out Bonanza is Saturday, Nov. 25.

The bike raffle drawing is Monday, Dec. 11.

Nancy Grant of Orono writes that the 23rd annual AFS Auction of Talents and Treasures is 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17, in the Orono High School cafeteria.

Some well-known local celebrities, including Maine humorist Clyde Folsom and former television personality George Gonyar, along with Wendall Tremblay and Hank Woodbrey, will serve as auctioneers.

If you wish, Grant writes, you are “welcome to come early to browse.”

Items up for bid include a bird-watcher’s trek with breakfast, gourmet desserts, books by local authors, artwork and a week’s vacation at a summer cottage at Bayside.

The auction also features holiday pies and cookies, Christmas trees and crafts.

Other items available include use of a wood splitter, chair caning, dental work, a design for your own home Web page, child care and housecleaning, and sewing machine services.

In other words, you’ll find just about everything, from University of Maine ice hockey tickets to a visit with a legislator.

Funds raised benefit the Orono High School American Field Service educational exchange program.

Rhonda Morneault invites you to attend the annual St. Teresa’s holiday fair from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 18, at the Parish Center, 440 South Main St., Brewer.

Parishioners will have available crafts, fudge, baked and canned goods along with knit items and a white elephant table.

You might want to participate in a raffle or two before you enjoy your soup and sandwich lunch, which will be served at 11 a.m.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.